Well this weekend from a stats and races standpoint was fairly disappointing. All the standouts going into the PCC Invitational were held out and the Paul Short High School races were cancelled, so I will not be updating the Top Teams or Individual lists this week.
HOWEVER, there were some performances that impressed me that I noted and will influence both lists for the future, so I'll share those observations with all of you on this post (they are in no particular order, I just happened to number them):
1. Grove City: I'm really liking this team right now. Aaron Benka discussed their hard workout schedule the past couple weeks in his interview and he still ran a huge PR despite being tired out. This team will peak fantastically so I'm excited to see where they're at at bigger invitationals.
2. Anton Martinez: He mixed it up for a second place finish at PCC in between Love and Wharrey of NA. He was right their at RW&B as well. He'll be a force out of the WPIAL's. North Hill's produces studs constantly and he seems to be the next one. (Jeff Van Kooten also had a really nice performance for PCC).
3. Council Rock North: I know I constantly harp on them, but right now out of district 1 I've got them scoring 81 points through 4 runners. Even if they don't have a guy at 16:40 and he's at 17:00 or 17:20 they're still easily making it out of district 1. Arita is a sub 16 guy for sure, but watch out for Simmons and Griswold. They'll be pushing that barrier as well.
4. Kevin James: I really liked his race this weekend and I think O'Hara is in a better spot than they looked after the race. James held is own against some top guys in the nation. A junior has won the past two years, is he the guy to keep that going?
5. North Penn: In light of a very weak district 1 this season, NP has a real shot at going to the state meet, and NP might be the most dangerous state course team in PA. These guys somehow always show up once they reach Hershey. I think they have an outside shot at being top 10 in the state if they make it out of district 1.
6. Jacob Halasowski: You may be wondering, Who is Jcob Halasowski? He could very well be Fox Chapel's savior. I said if this team could find AT LEAST a 4th man to step up and run with Elisa Graca they'd have a shot at making it to the state meet. Halasowski (SO DIFFICULT TO SPELL!) finished just behind Graca for 21st place at PCC this weekend running 17:20. If you put 1-2 for FC (Martin Twins) this team places second in the meet. I'm starting to think they may have a chance to snag that #3 spot out of WPIAL's.
7. Mt Lebo: This team might have had the most impressive performance of the weekend in my opinion at the Legends XC Meet. They supported a 35 second spread without their #2 from Foundation in Evan Hatton along with the up and down Patrick Quirk.
Hatton ran really impressively at Foundation as did Ian Baun who placed second in the JV race. If Patrick Quirk can return to the form he was earlier in the season (#1 at RW&B) or just mixing it up with this tight back they could be like NA with a 20 second spread. This squad is becoming very dangerous and has grounds to be on the top 10 list in my opinion.
8. Josh Hoey: This kid is apparently an 8th grader who ran 17:23 at Salesianum... That's scary. Someone to watch in the future. He could be sub 4:40 this spring for the 1600. On a MP team that returns it's top 4, these guys will be scary good next season, seeing as they're already a strong force this year. Hope to see them at NXN mixing it up for a top 10 spot.
9. Casey Comber: Not really sure why I have to say this, but the kid is turning into a total stud. HH knows how to build champions and I think he could be top 10 if not top 5 in district 1. I believe this is his 3rd invitational win of the season.
Questions to be answered:
1. What type of shape are many of the top runners in PA in? Since the beginning of September we haven't seen: Martin Twins, Kennedy, or Deluca. It's a long season for sure and I think a lot of PA guys have chances at going to FL or NXN, but I'm frankly shocked by the lack of racing from top teams/runners. You can also add Tony Russell to this list as he hasn't ran an invitational this season. Will this pay off?
2. Who will make it out of District 1? This district is usually extremely deep with talent. This year D1 is deep in respects to teams who have a shot at making it to states. The only true lock is WCH, but I think CRN is almost there as well. After that I've got ____: NP, WCE, WT, Penncrest (need to bounce back), Wissahickon, DTW, PB, HH (just threw themselves out there this past weekend), Avon Grove, and Pennridge. Mid to High 200's is what it usually takes to place top 5 in D1. This season a 300 scoring team could make it. I could see #5 being 295 and #10 being 330.
Who will be scrappy enough to make it?
More to come tomorrow!
--ForrestCRN
P.S: Do we want a poll question again this week? If so, what should the poll question be? Share you thoughts!
It will be good to see Downingtown West and Pennsbury mix it up in the Eastern States Race at Manhattan on Saturday.
ReplyDeleteTennant Invitational this weekend. WT, CRN, WCE, Connestoga, and DE will all be there out of D1. That could be a good indicator for districts plus Cummings vs Wilson.
ReplyDeleteAnybody know anything about the course at WT? Is it fast?
It's another fast one, quicker than Lehigh.
DeleteReally fast course, I've only ran on it once, but I've gone and watched races their a few times. CRN usually holds out their varsity at this meet and I highly doubt Wilson will race.
DeleteI'll do a little course preview article for WT sometime this week.
--ForrestCRN
No Cummings either. College visit.
DeleteDowningtown East and GV have no shot out of District 1? Or were they just forgotten?
ReplyDeleteDE has no chance, GV needs to get healthy before their name is thrown in the mix
DeleteGV has been struggling all year and it's getting late.
DeleteThe real wait is just to see how they do for chesmonts. That's two weeks away so it's really a watch on how well they mend that squad in that time frame.
DeleteHenderson's training schedule for this week if anyone wants to check it out. http://www.runnersworld.com/high-school-training/training-log-west-chester-henderson-boys
ReplyDeleteInteresting. Either Russell is a lot smaller than I remember or the rest of the team are giants-kind of unusual to see such size in xc runners., but hey, it works for them. What are they feeding them in West Chester anyway?
DeleteThat team has some length. Are they wearing training shoes in that picture? Are they at a meet?
DeleteYeah, looks like trainers in the photo(or basketball shoes) I knew Barchet brothers were very tall-like 6"4 maybe. But I would guess that at least a few others on that varsity are over 6 feet. Moy and Stratman look tall too.
DeleteIn case you were wondering, the barchets are both about 6'4", I'm about 6'2", Moy and Collins are probably 6'1" and stratman is also around that height. I'm not exactly sure how tall russell is (probably around 5' 9" maybe 5'7", i dont really know), and waltz and swart are around 5'11" i think.
Delete-Knapp
Measured without running shoes, take an inch off of all those heights, except Russell, he about 5'8"
DeleteWhy wasn't Paul Short rescheduled?
ReplyDeleteI'm not 100% sure on exactly why, but I was in the area when Don Rich was talking extensively to the meet director (after his interview with her) and with many teams being in hotels in the area along with travel costs of schools, plus the amount of work it is to put Paul Short together for both Lehigh (hosts) and Muhlenberg (helped host) it didn't seem plausible for them to host the meet Sunday or even sometime this week.
DeleteNow this is speculation, let me be clear on that.
--ForrestCRN
Sunday was just as hot. I bet if they held it this Saturday they'd get at least 50% of the teams back, they could have just combined the brown/white races and had one race. It's a shame to have lost one of the better invites of the season.
DeleteAre you going to do another PA Alumni post?
ReplyDelete-GBC
Didn't think people were interested! I'll see what I can do, but I have a midterm tomorrow and a paper due thursday so I'm fairly busy the next couple of days. I will make sure to do one after 10/19 weekend since those are the really big meets around the nation (Pre-Nats, Wisco-Invite, ect).
Delete--ForrestCRN
Entry list for WCH Inv on track: http://runccrs.com/results/race-calendar/?event_id=1272
ReplyDelete